The invention concerns methods and devices for breaking up ore.
A method of weakening the connection between a first material phase and a second material phase in rock or ore is disclosed in the publication DE 603 18 027 T2. wherein this is a method of microwave treatment of multi-phase materials. Further publications concerning a microwave treatment of rock or ore are U.S. Pat. No. 7,678,172 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,727,301 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,133 A, and WO 2009/11435 A2. In this connection, the rock or the ore is passed through a microwave cavity and heated thereby. This leads to weakening of the connection of the material phases causing cracks or weakening of their boundary surfaces. The use of the method is limited constructively to the microwave device. Moreover, an application of this method on site, this means during mining, is not possible.
These publications concern explicitly methods with electromagnetic alternating fields in the microwave range. The upper limit of the frequency spectrum is here maximally 300 GHz. It is to be assumed that this limit is deliberately selected because the adjoining spectrum of far infrared radiation has been considered to be disadvantageous because it leads quickly to surficial vitrification of the irradiated rock or to a glass-like removal that is very inert and therefore can no longer be decomposed by wet-chemical treatment.